Dust and Death
by EchoezOfSilence
Summary: A man finds himself on a seemingly deserted planet, the only remnants being the rusted shells of a long lost world and a single word. Itexicon. Reviews are always nice. T for language.
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot**

**A/N: greetings readers, this is my second real fanfic, and it is a crossover despite the fact that it is not posted in the crossover section. Now what is it a crossover with you might ask? Well you'll just have to wait and see. Anyway, I came up with this idea a long time ago, just haven't gotten around to actually writing it. And now, enjoy the first chapter of **_**Dust and Death**_**.**

**Prologue: Desolation**

**Earth**

**3 hours after landfall**

Dust fluttered along the empty, desolate road, slowly making its way into the oblivion of the open planes. Its path was impeded only by a pair of rugged boots resting on the beaten tarmac. The black leather boots belonged to a man whose face could barely be seen. His body was covered in a gray cloak of sorts and a hood was pulled up over his head, casting his face in shadow. The thick clothing hid him from the harsh rays of the now exposed sun and helped him to blend in among the bare gray wasteland in which he traveled. Though the sky was a dull gray, there was not a cloud to be seen and the sun beat down unrelenting on the world below. It had bleached the buildings of the small town to a harsh white that burned the eyes if one stared at it too long. The street was cracked, broken. Various items were strewn about on its surface, remnants of a time long passed. Shriveled plants could be seen poking out from the cracks in the asphalt, having crawled their way into the light only to be brutally killed by the unshielded sun. The ozone layer was nearly gone now, exposing the surface to harsh radiation from the lone star in the system. Any clouds that formed would only drop toxic liquids that burned at a single touch. The surface was desolate, lifeless. No one was crazy enough to even attempt to survive out here.

Except, apparently, for this man.

A worn shotgun was slung over his back, the beaten wooden stock sticking out over his right shoulder. The slight bulge of shells could be seen in a bandolier underneath the cloak he wore. The cloak was once dark black, but years of wear had worn it down to a dull grey. Spatters of dried blood could be seen in several places and there were a few holes that looked to have been made by bullets. The man trudged forward slowly, his boots making quiet taps on the tarmac. There was no noise but the wind in the air and the sounds of this man's passage. In one hand the man carried a worn duffel bag that bulged with whatever it contained, the weight of the bag was obvious in the man's posture but it did not impede his travel in the slightest.

The man continued his journey.

Brass shell casings cracked and crunched under his boots, having become brittle after years of exposure to the harsh sunlight. The shells were the only reminder of what violence had taken place here long ago, before the surface became uninhabitable. They littered the streets, but no longer shone in the light, their luster long gone. Buildings were crumbling slowly around him, their foundations weak and barely supporting their own weight. Waiting to collapse on whoever was foolish enough to step into one. Empty and rusted car frames rested on the side of the road, pillaged for their engines and other components long before the man had even stepped foot in the town. As he neared its edge he came upon a fallen billboard, the supports rusted and broken.

The man stopped and crouched at the signs edge. He placed the duffel on the ground nearby and grabbed the sign with both hands. With unexpected strength he lifted the billboard and flipped it over onto its backside, revealing the ancient advertisement on its surface. A face smiled at the man from in front of a red and white striped flag. The slogan above it was faded and illegible, but the symbol and name in the bottom corner was clear. Itexicon.

**A/N: hope you enjoyed the first chapter, reviews are always nice and encourage me to write more!**


	2. Is Everything Dead?

**Disclaimer: I own nothing of significance.**

**A/N: greetings and salutations good readers. I know the prologue may have been slightly overwhelming, and I am aware that very little was revealed. This chapter will reveal a little more, but not too much. Also, one of my reviewers asked if the flock will be involved in this. The answer is yes, but it will likely be a while before they show up. And now, enjoy the chapter!**

**Is Everything Dead?**

**Earth**

**2 days after landfall**

The miles and miles of open plains had once been lush farmland, full of ripe fruits and vegetables. But the acres of corn and wheat were all gone now, leaving behind little but cracked and dry soil without even a hint of life. No plants could grow here now, years of exposure and neglect had sapped all moisture from the ground and it had hardened into cracked and bleached clay. It was all dead.

And yet, one man still walked the land.

He had left the town and the mysterious sign long behind, he had traveled through both of the previous days and even more at night. His duffel was not quite as heavy now, a fair amount of his supplies having been consumed during the trek. He knew he wouldn't make it much longer without a resupply, but from the looks of things it didn't seem like there was even anyone else on this desolate world. It was dead, empty, and any water that could be found was acidic and deadly. And so his only option was to keep moving. He had passed one other town since the first war ravaged settlement, and it had been just as deserted.

He kept moving.

Suddenly he found himself staring at a hint of darker grey in the distance, it had to be some sort of shelter. He picked up his pace so as to reach it sooner. It would cost him more water, but he was going to run out eventually either way. That is, unless he found somewhere to get more. His steady hike turned to a slow jog, and soon into a full sprint. With a little extra water, he could keep this pace up for a while, hopefully until he could reach what he saw in the distance. It took him an hour or two, but he made it to what he could now see was a large grouping of trees. A settlement would have been more promising, but the carcasses would at least provide some protection from the harsh sun, despite the fact that their leaves were long gone.

About half a mile into the "forest" the man stopped and kneeled down, there was a riverbed running across his path. There was no water, but the soil here wasn't hard clay like it was out on the plain. There was one thing that had caught his eye, the reason he had crouched down in the first place.

There was a boot print in the softer soil.

It wasn't much, just a vague shape slightly depressed into the dirt, but it was clearly formed by a boot. What was more, it was fresh. And that meant that this planet wasn't as dead as it seemed. Someone had come through these woods recently, but where had they gone? And how the hell were they surviving? The man wasn't quite sure, but he hadn't seen a single living animal or plant on his long trek across the plains. All that was left was carcasses, some with hide still stretched over the bones. But there was no meat left to eat, and the marrow in the bones had dried up long ago.

A twig snapped. The man moved almost faster than the eye could see, and suddenly had the worn shotgun in his hands pointing it at a ragged figure standing on the other side of the riverbed. It was bundled up in several layers of clothing, but burnt red skin could be seen through the few rips in the cloth. Its head was obscured by a hood and what resembled a welding mask. Its gloved hands were raised and the eyes behind the mask stared fearfully at the shotgun in the man's hand. Said eyes flicked to the man's duffel for less than a second, but he still moved forward slightly to put himself between the figure and his bag.

"Where the hell did you come from?" the man's voice was hoarse from days with little water and disuse, "I've been here for almost three days and haven't seen one goddamn soul."

The figure didn't move, its hands stayed up and it kept staring at the gun in his hand. The man waited a moment to see whether the figure would acknowledge that he had spoken, but it just stood there.

"Answer the fucking question!" he raised his voice slightly and took another step forward, shoving the shotgun in the figures face.

This finally seemed to shake the figure out of its trance and it took a step back. After a moment more of staring at the gun, its eyes moved to the man and it pointed further into the woods. Then it took off.

The man sighed, picked up his duffel and jogged after the figure. He still kept the shotgun in his hand, but now he had at least some inkling of where to go.

**A/N: hope you enjoyed the chapter, don't forget to review! And feel free to voice your questions, comments, and criticisms.**


	3. Refuge

**A/N: Hey guys! Sorry it's been so long since I updated this baby, but I've been having a lot of trouble figuring out where the hall I'm going with this. Finally got over that and wrote up a new chapter for you! So enjoy the next chapter of Dust and Death!**

**Refuge**

Two figures jogged quickly through the desolate forest, neither could be clearly seen, though the second was clearly a man. The man was obviously the more wary of the two, keeping his worn shotgun at the ready without fail, and he definitely did not trust the other figure. The first figure was undistinguishable, its bundles of clothing preventing one from even discerning what gender it was.

The two figures eventually came upon a small stone structure in the midst of the dead trees. It wasn't much, just four cinderblock walls about 10 feet each with a metal roof overhead. The indistinguishable figure quickly went to a solid metal door set into one of the walls and knocked hard on it. Almost immediately a flap at about eye level opened and a set of dark eyes stared out at them, the eyes scrutinized the man and his shotgun while speaking in hushed tones to the bundled figure. After a moment of deliberating, the flap closed and the sound of shifting metal could be heard behind the door as it unlocked.

As soon as the door had swung open, guns were in the air. The man had snapped his shotgun into the air and had it trained on the doorway, on the other side of which there were at least three other figures with various weapons trained on him. Now this man wasn't much of a fan of having guns trained on him, but he knew when he was getting into something he couldn't handle. He also needed supplies, so with a glance down at his duffel he reluctantly lowered the shotgun. As he did this, a dark skinned man walked out through the door to face him.

"We're going to have to relieve you of that," The dark skinned man told him with a pointed stare, "Unless you feel like walking until you find another settlement."

The man glanced warily around him. Giving up the shotgun didn't sit well with him, but these people didn't know about his knives, and he didn't plan on informing them. Of course, he could be just as deadly without a blade, but once again, they didn't need to know that. So he reluctantly handed over the shotgun and followed the group into the cinderblock structure. The inside of which made it look more akin to a military bunker. Gun racks lined the walls and ammo cases were scattered on tables around the room. But the focus of the whole building was the freight elevator in the center. That explained a lot, these people wouldn't be able to survive just on the surface. So they must have built underground, maybe even established a larger community.

As he followed the group onto the freight elevator, the man realized he had no idea why he was following these people, or why they had even let him in. It must be a rare sight in a place like this to find someone wandering around outside, so why had they just let him in without question? It worried the man, but he wouldn't last much longer on the outside without a resupply and he had no idea where to get one other than the place he was currently descending into. It was too late to turn back now anyway, so he'd just have to stay on his toes and deal with it.

The elevator finally jerked to a halt at the bottom of the shaft, it opened up into a large cavern lit by small floodlights. Somehow these people had power down here, but they didn't seem to have much technology to power. The cavern contained little else other than the elevator and the flood lights, there were, however, metal doors in the cave wall. Presumably they led into other sections of the tunnel system. Two of the group pushed the man towards one of these doors, one with "HQ" stenciled on it in big red letters. A guard on duty next to the door rose up to meet the group as they approached, he spoke in hushed tones with the dark skinned man who had taken his shotgun while occasionally glancing at the man.

After a minute or so of hushed conversation the guard nodded and slid a key into the door. It squealed loudly as it opened and he led them through. The hallway beyond was very tight, with barely enough room for two men to walk through shoulder to shoulder. It eventually opened up into a room, but this was different than the cavern they had come from. This room had walls, cinderblock walls, but walls nonetheless. It also had a large conference table with a projector at one end. And one of the chairs was currently occupied. As they came into the room, the guard spoke up.

"Ma'am," he said in a very respectful tone, "patrol found someone out on the waste this morning, they brought him down to see you."

The woman raised her head, but this did little to reveal her face, which was still cast in shadow.

"Did you disarm him?" she asked pointedly.

The guard turned to the dark skinned man, who only gave a curt nod before holding up the man's shotgun.

"Very well," the woman responded, "you may leave him with me."

The guard nodded and began heading back down the hallway, the dark skinned man stayed however. The woman glared at him for a moment before motioning towards the hallway. At this the man reluctantly turned and led the group out of the room, leaving just the two of them in the room. The man turned back to the mysterious woman and spoke.

"So, care to explain who you are and why I'm here?" His voice was still gravelly, he hadn't used it in days and the lack of water hadn't helped.

The woman finally stood and revealed herself to him, she looked to be in her 30s and had brown hair with blonde highlights. She glared at him for a second, but after a moment she answered his question.

"My name is Maximum Ride," she said with a sense of superiority, "And I have a few questions for you."

**There you have it people! The flock/Max has made their appearance! And they're going to have a more significant role from now on, just so you know. As always, reviews make me happier and want to write more! So give that little button a push will you? **


	4. Secrets

**A/N: Jesus Christ it's been a while since I posted anything on here… Sorry about the long wait guys and gals, just haven't really gotten around to writing much recently. Also I've been caught up with applying to colleges and such, but I finally got some inspiration and typed up this chapter for you. Anyhow, enjoy the chapter, and I might start writing more soon, we'll see.**

**Secrets**

The man stared at this "Maximum Ride" for a moment. The way she said it made it seem like she expected him to recognize the name. He didn't. He stared back at her for a minute or two before responding.

"That name supposed to mean something to me, lady?" He growled after clearing his throat, "Cus it doesn't. And I'm gonna need a few answers myself before I give you any."

This seemed to shake the woman's façade a little, her face showed a slight bit of surprise before she reluctantly nodded. She turned to the projector and pushed a button. A graph came up on screen that showed what seemed to be the recent seismic activity in the area. There was a spike in the graph.

"Very well," She said, "Three days ago our sensor picked up a large seismic disturbance roughly 50 klicks east of this base. Once we detected the disturbance we immediately hooked up with our satellites to determine the cause. What we found, was this."

Maximum hit another button on the projector and the picture changed. The man recognized what was displayed on screen. It was a very rough and grainy picture of where his ship had crashed. Well, he thought, didn't see that coming.

"And now," The woman continued, "Three days later, we find you. You're the first person our patrols have come across in three months. To me it's looking a lot like you were involved in whatever caused that disturbance. Care to explain yourself, mister…?"

At this point it was obvious the woman was asking for his name, so the man chuckled slightly and started to pull the hood back from his face. When his hood was removed it revealed the shining bald head of a slightly tanned man, a pair of black welding goggles obscured his eyes and a wry grin was on his face.

"Richard B. Riddick," He said with the same air of superiority she had used when addressing him. "And your security's pretty crappy, they didn't even take my bag."

At that he lifted his duffel and dropped it on the conference table, it made a surprisingly loud thud when it landed.

Maximum stared at him for a moment, a slight glare in her eyes.

"Well I assure you, mister Riddick, that I am quite capable at defending myself. And if you were to show any hostility towards me, you would be subdued in under 2 minutes by the guards outside."

"Lady," Riddick began with another grin, "You'd be surprised what I can do in 2 minutes."

There were a tense few minutes where they both stared at each other. The tension was so thick, it could be cut by one of his knives. But finally, Riddick decided to change the subject. He turned away and addressed her again, but less confrontationally this time.

"Came across a billboard on my way here, advertising something called Itexicon. That mean anything to you?"

The Woman stared at him in well hidden shock once again. He guessed that this Itexicon was another thing that everyone knew about.

"You are the first person I've met in 20 years who hasn't known what Itexicon is."

The tone she used irritated Riddick to no end. He turned back and glared at her, the grin gone from his face.

"Look lady, I'm not exactly from around here, in case you didn't notice. I have no idea who you are, or why your lackeys brought me down here, but I need answers and I need supplies. So if you can't give me either of those, then I'll just be on my way."

Another tense moment before she answered him.

"I can give you both," She said in a quiet tone, "But first I need to know, were you involved in the seismic disturbance three days ago? And if so, what the hell is that thing?"

Riddick stared for a moment, deciding whether or not to tell the woman. After a minute or so, he plopped down in one of the chairs and propped his feet up on the conference table. He gave her a serious look before answering.

"Yes, I was. And that," he pointed at the picture still on the projector, "Was my spaceship."

**A/N: there it is! Hope you all enjoyed it, and again, reviews are oh so greatly appreciated!**


	5. Revelations

**A/N: I am terrible at keeping up with my stories, it's been what, like a year since I updated this story? Oh well, I don't really have any excuses, though college has taken up a fair amount of time. Anyway, here is a brand new chapter that I just wrote and I hope you will all enjoy it, please forgive my long absence, maybe I'll actually start writing more often after this. (don't count on it though)**

**Revelations**

There was a tense silence in the room for a few moments before it was broken by a condescending scoff from the woman.

"A spaceship? you're shitting me right? Do you honestly expect me to believe you're some sort of space man who came here totally by accident?"

The incredulous look and continued ridicule she was giving him was starting to annoy Riddick, but he didn't show it.

"Not by accident per say," He said, "Intended to land on some backwater planet where the mercs couldn't find me. Couldn't find any sort of space port here though, so I dropped down in the biggest patch o' open ground I could find. Wasn't exactly a soft landing."

The woman finally stopped chuckling and gave him a scrutinizing look.

"You're serious."

"Very," he replied.

Maximum sighed in frustration and ran a hand over her face.

"So how is it that in the several millennia of our existence on this planet you are the first person from space to contact us?" She said with only slightly less skepticism.

"Most of the galaxy doesn't go lookin' for inhabited planets, and those that do generally don't leave them that way." Riddick bounced right back with an answer, "Even I landed here almost completely by chance, did a random jump and this was the only habitable planet in the system, though only barely."

Maximum just dropped her head in her hands and started laughing again, more somberly this time though. Before Riddick could let his frustration get the best of him, she lifted her head back up and responded.

"Oh the irony," she whispered, "The first extra-terrestrial contact this planet has ever had is in the harrows of post-apocalypse, and even then it's completely by accident."

She shook her head and let out a few more hollow laughs before standing up from the table. She walked over to the projector and pushed a few buttons on it. The images changed to what looked like the live feeds from several cameras set up in the 'forest' around this base.

"What you have seen so far of this planet is the aftermath of a nuclear war, one caused mostly by the efforts of a company named Itexicon." A few of the feeds changed to different cameras, "Roughly 10 years ago they sparked a massive war between two of the largest world powers on earth, and within 3 months the world was reduced to this. Our O-zone layer is nearly non-existent, what little water there is on the surface is toxic, and absolutely no plant life is able to survive the harsh rays of our sun." She sat down and her face showed all the burdens of the world stacked against her, "Sometimes I can hardly believe we're not dead, hell, most of the world is."

The wry grin on Riddick's face slowly turned to a frown as Maximum retold her story. It was hard to believe, a single corporation bringing down an entire planet? why would anyone even want to do that? especially when they weren't space-faring.

"How exactly did one company cause all of this? and why? it seems like they would have suffered the same fate as everyone else here."

Maximum cleared her throat and brought herself out of her thoughts, looking back up at Riddick.

"Itexicon started out small, relatively at least. They were a Bio-engineering company, but they got out of hand, started working with human test subjects. They mostly did work with recombinant DNA technology, mixing human and animal DNA, created a lot of nasty stuff. But they managed to churn out a few successful experiments, human-animal hybrids of various sorts. Eventually a group of them escaped one of Itexicons facilities and began spreading word, shit sort of hit the fan at that point. The public was pretty much outraged but Itexicon had their fingers to deep into the world government for anyone to really do anything about it. First world countries descended into anarchy and the United Nations was reduced to angry bickering. Eventually that lead to one country going too far and the war broke out. Itexicon ended up urging both sides into nuclear war, we still don't know why, but you can see the outcome. Not too many people survived after that point, and more than a few of them were hostile hybrids."

Riddick was a little taken aback, human test subjects? That was something that was even illegal in the backwaters of the galaxy, though it wasn't like that stopped most people. But still, these people had been through an insane amount of shit. It really was pretty impressive that they were still hanging on. The somber look on Maximums face gave Riddick pause for a moment or two before he responded.

"And so now you're just a group of refugees scrapin' by on the skin of your teeth? Sounds rough," Riddick said, "But back to business, what do you want with me and what do I need to do to get supplies from you."

Maximum didn't respond for a few minutes, somberly looking down at her hands. Riddick was about to repeat the question when she finally looked back up.

"I need your help, you're clearly stronger than anyone else here and can survive on the surface." She turned her chair to look at him square in the eye, "I need you to find my family."

**A/N: there it is, hope you all enjoyed it and don't forget to review please**


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